There was a good turnout of 12 boats for round 3 of the DF95 Winter Series 2025/6. The fleet was made up of nine home boats and three visitors.We also had two visitors from Budworth SC who are in the process of setting up a Radio Sailing section with DF95’s and came to learn about racing at Birkenhead and also managed to get some racing in as well.
There was a light SE breeze from the Clubhouse which varied in strength from close to zero through to around 8 knots in the short lived gusts. The front of the fleet saw some very close competitive racing with all of the top seven helms placing in the top 3 first time around the windward mark, at some point during the day. Holding onto that lead through to the end could prove difficult though, as the breeze was patchy and shifty with significant pressure differences at boats even just 2m away from each other. Finding the breeze (or being lucky enough for it to find you!), would prove to be the winning formula.
Race wins were taken by Peter Baldwin, Paul Plested and Martin Roberts (sailing for team “Sid Various”). Ian Davies had a strong and consistent day and was unfortunate to miss out on a race win several times.
Places fourth to seventh finished very close with only two points separating these four boats, giving an indication of how close racing was for the whole afternoon. Sid Various was mostly Martin Roberts (who unfortunately missed the first two races) plus our two visitors from Budworth who put in some decent results to gain the fourth place on countback over Alan Watkinson. Clive and Guy were well matched with Clive only gaining the upper hand on the basis of three fourths beating Guy’s two and after both counting a second and third.
Overall a good afternoon of racing, with Peter coming out a clear winner with seven wins, Paul second with three wins and Ian third. Things may have been different if Martin had managed to sail all twelve races, but an unfortunate late arrival and some rigging work for Brian scuppered his chances of a better place.
Thanks go to Neil and Dave for runing the racing with help from our visitors and to Dave for the photos and making tea at half time. The next round of the DF95 Winter Series is on Saturday 14th February, enter via this link.
Next week (Saturday 24th January), sees Round 3 of the IOM Winter Series, with entry via this link.
Paul Plested set the pace in the first race, followed over the line by Mike De St Paer, with Clive 3rd. Guy Cowper, who is only just getting to grips with his recently acquired 65, finished 4th, which proved to be his joint lowest result of the day.
As the breeze came and went there was plenty of opportunity for places to change and, whilst it could pay on occasion to hit a corner on the beat, it was safer to try and keep the boat moving up the middle. Despite doing this Paul in race two lost out to Guy, who seemed to have boat speed to spare, on the final beat. Clive posted another 3rd place, just pipping Charles Legg on the line.
By race three there was enough breeze to use the full length of the lake and the usual windward mark with a spreader was introduced. Clive got away cleanly and lead to the finish, followed by Paul and then Mike.
Races four and five had the same podium positions with Paul bagging two 1sts, Guy two 2nds and Clive two thirds. Dave Williams took one of the 4ths and Charles took the other, both sailing well on the day just behind the front runners in several races. Mike opted to call it a day at this point as he wasn’t enjoying the conditions…but then who was.
Clive took race six closely followed by Paul at the line, with Guy in third. Richard Walker, who had a better second half in the morning’s racing, after some serious boat tweaks took 4th spot. Guy, who had been consistently quick all day bagged his second win in race seven with Charles just pipping Paul on the line to take 2nd.
The afternoon brought a little more wind than the morning session for the 65s, still generally from the clubhouse end of the lake but there were directional swings along the length of the lake and picking these would prove critical to getting a good finishing result.
Eight skippers including a guest, Mathew Pritchard from Great Orme MYC, took to the water for a prompt start on time. The same standard course as the morning was set.
There were a number of personal battles within the fleet but you couldn’t concentrate too much on these as the racing was super tight and this was demonstrated by 6 of the 8 sailors taking a podium position in at least one race. Paul was by far the pick of the bunch posting 7 bullets and 2 second places but the truth is not reflected in the results as he was pushed all the way to the line in almost every race with a couple of boat lengths making the difference. Clive took the other 2 race wins and backed this up with consistent results in the top 4 places. Andy was consistent, posting 3 seconds and 3 thirds but slipped back in a couple of races but is showing great boat speed. The crunch battle of the afternoon was between Guy and his friend Mathew and the pressure seemed to get to Guy. Mathew just managed to hold the bragging rights by 2 points in the end, with Stuart close behind. Malcolm and Steve also had a private battle with Steve prevailing, thanks to a third place in the last race. After 9 races, it was time to call a halt, and retire to the clubhouse to warm up.
A very enjoyable afternoon of DF95 sailing, with some good banter on the sidelines and some tricky sailing conditions picking the right shifts and being in the right area of the lake to pick the wind shifts. Congrats to Paul showing a master class in being at the right place at the right time (for most of the time)
Thanks also to Malcolm for the A fleet results and Clive for the photos.
Alan Bennett decided this was going to be his day and aced the ten races. He didn’t have it his own way up to the windward mark but then downwind he just vanished. The UNO sailors were then left with trying to get the better of Gary sailing the other Ivy but ultimately felt short.
It turned out to be an interesting day for rig choice as well – just about on the cusp of B and C. Two boats elected to sail with B – Dave and Malcolm (who didn’t have C rigs available) – with the others on C. The C boats were OK upwind in the gusts but underpowered in the lulls and offwind, while the B rig boats went well upwind in the lulls but were overpowered and tricky to tack in the gusts, and were a handful downwind in the gusts. There was quite a steep chop which also affected the B rig boats coming off the bottom mark. It’s frustrating until one remembers it’s like sailing a Dragon or an Etchells in a 6ft swell!
Clive simply aced the day by winning 6 of the 8 races, and although challenged at some moments sailed consistently well to make it look easy. Alan and Mike swapped positions all morning with Alan making second by one point and with each winning one race.
Dave persevered with the B rig as his C rig was damaged but found it hard going in the gusts, Malcolm also decided half way through the morning that he would take a break from B rig struggles, and kindly RO’d the rest of the morning. Charles started well with plenty of boat speed but then had a winch which developed a mind of its own which made things difficult in the conditions so had to stop sailing.
Fortunately the snow and ice had thawed allowing 4 men and their boats to take to the water for a great afternoon of DF95 racing, tweaking and tuning although a tad cold especially with the wind chill factor. With a fantastic north westerly breeze blowing almost straight down the lake from the far end with no holes and only little shifts, and perfect for a top end B rig.
Before we put the boats on the water Clive gave Andy and Stuart’s boats a few tweaks as it was the first time their B rigs had seen daylight.
A similar course to the morning was set and due to numbers used self monitoring starts and the finishes were recorded by the first across the line. The racing was more competitive than the results show with 3 skippers winning at least 1 race, Clive taking most honours and both Malcolm and Andy showing great boat speed after a few tweaks and challenged for line honours on more than 1 occasion but were lacking some consistency.
The DF95 fleet were greeted by a gusty NNW wind and very chilly temperatures which didn’t seem too inviting.
After a short discussion a it was decided a B rig would be best and these proved to be the case. Malcolm offered to be race officer and after a short delay got the racing off quickly managing to run 7 races in just over an hour.
With just a small fleet the racing and finishing was still very close with positions being lost and gained right up until the finish with spectacular starting techniques due to the wind coming from all directions.
Andy Merns got off to a flying start taking a first in the first race.
The final result gave John C the win, with Andy second, then Steve and Stuart competing for 3rd and 4th
